Regulations: Part 107 practice questions

Section 107.12(a) allows a person without a remote pilot certificate to manipulate the flight controls only while under the direct supervision of a remote pilot in command who has the ability to immediately take direct control of the flight. A visual observer cannot fill that role: under 107.3 a visual observer is designated to help see and avoid other traffic and objects, which is not supervision with the ability to take control. Aircraft weight and altitude play no part in this exception, so a light aircraft flown below 400 feet AGL still needs a certificated pilot at the controls or a supervising remote pilot in command.

True. Section 107.7(a)(1) requires the remote pilot to have the remote pilot certificate and identification in physical possession and readily accessible when exercising its privileges. Section 107.7(a)(2) then requires presenting them for inspection on request from the Administrator, an authorized representative of the NTSB, any Federal, State, or local law enforcement officer, or an authorized representative of the TSA. A local police officer is therefore one of the people entitled to ask. The identification must contain the details listed in 107.67(b)(1) through (3): photograph, signature, and date of birth.

Section 48.200(a) prohibits operating a registered small unmanned aircraft unless it displays a unique identifier as required by 48.205. That identifier is the registration number or, if the Administrator authorizes it, the aircraft's serial number. Section 48.205(c) requires it to be legibly displayed on an external surface of the aircraft, and 48.205(b) requires it to stay affixed for the duration of each operation. A marking hidden inside a battery compartment is not on an external surface, and a marking on the control station is not on the aircraft at all.

Section 107.77(c) says a certificate holder who changes permanent mailing address may not, after 30 days from that date, exercise the privileges of the certificate unless the FAA has been notified, either by letter to the FAA Airman Certification Branch or through the FAA website. The 14-day figure belongs to Part 48, which gives an aircraft registration holder 14 calendar days to update registration information after a change. The 10-day figure is the deadline in 107.9 for reporting a qualifying safety event. Neither applies to the address on a pilot certificate.

Section 107.9 requires a report to the FAA no later than 10 calendar days after an operation involving serious injury to any person, any loss of consciousness, or damage to property other than the small unmanned aircraft. Property damage is exempt only if the repair cost, including materials and labor, does not exceed $500, or, for a total loss, the fair market value does not exceed $500. A $650 fence repair exceeds that threshold, so it is reportable. A $300 mailbox repair falls within the exemption. Damage to the small unmanned aircraft itself is excluded no matter what the aircraft was worth.

Section 107.49 lists the actions required before flight: assess the operating environment (local weather, local airspace and flight restrictions, people and property on the surface, and other ground hazards); inform all persons directly participating about operating conditions, emergency procedures, roles and hazards; ensure the control links work properly; ensure enough available power for the intended operational time if the aircraft is powered; and secure anything attached or carried. The briefing duty covers persons directly participating, not nonparticipating bystanders. The section does not require a flight plan on file or a logbook record of the flight.

False. Section 107.15(a) says no person may operate a civil small UAS unless it is in a condition for safe operation, and that prior to each flight the remote pilot in command must check the system to determine whether it is. The check is tied to each flight, not to the first flight of the day. Section 107.15(b) adds that a flight may not continue once the pilot knows or has reason to know that the system is no longer in a condition for safe operation, so the duty also continues during the flight.

Section 107.25(b) prohibits operating from a moving land or water-borne vehicle unless the small unmanned aircraft is flown over a sparsely populated area and is not transporting another person's property for compensation or hire. Both conditions must be met, so a flight over a congested area fails even with no cargo, and delivering a customer's package for hire fails even over a sparsely populated area. Operation from a moving aircraft is prohibited by 107.25(a) with no exception in the rule itself. Section 107.205(a) lets the FAA waive 107.25, but no waiver will be issued for carrying another person's property for compensation or hire.

Section 107.27 requires the person manipulating the controls, the remote pilot in command, and any visual observer to comply with 14 CFR 91.17 and 91.19. Section 91.17(a)(1) prohibits acting as a crewmember within 8 hours after consuming any alcoholic beverage, so 8 hours is the minimum. Waiting 12 or 24 hours is allowed but is not what the rule requires. Passing the 8-hour mark is not enough on its own: 91.17(a) also bars acting while under the influence of alcohol or with an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater.

Section 107.29(a)(2) requires lighted anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles, with a flash rate sufficient to avoid a collision, for operations at night. Paragraph (b) applies the same requirement during civil twilight. The remote pilot in command may reduce the intensity of the lighting for safety reasons but may not extinguish it. Neither 5 nor 10 statute miles appears in the rule. Night operation also requires that the remote pilot completed the initial knowledge test or training under 107.65 after April 6, 2021.

True. Section 107.29(c) defines civil twilight, except for Alaska, as the period from 30 minutes before official sunrise until official sunrise, and from official sunset until 30 minutes after official sunset. In Alaska, civil twilight is the period defined in the Air Almanac. The definition matters because 107.29(b) requires lighted anti-collision lighting, visible for at least 3 statute miles, for any operation during civil twilight.

False. Section 107.31(a) requires the remote pilot in command, the visual observer if one is used, and the person manipulating the controls to be able to see the aircraft with vision that is unaided by any device other than corrective lenses. Section 107.3 defines corrective lenses as spectacles or contact lenses, so binoculars do not qualify. A visual observer can carry the visual line-of-sight duty under 107.31(b), but only by seeing the aircraft with unaided vision or corrective lenses.

Section 107.33(a) requires the remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the flight controls, and the visual observer to maintain effective communication with each other at all times. The section also requires the remote pilot in command to ensure the observer can see the aircraft as 107.31 specifies, and it requires the crew to coordinate scanning the airspace. Part 107 requires a remote pilot certificate only for acting as remote pilot in command or manipulating the controls (107.12), not for the observer role, and 107.33 sets no distance between the observer and the pilot.

False. Section 107.35 says a person may not manipulate flight controls or act as a remote pilot in command or visual observer in the operation of more than one unmanned aircraft at the same time. Adding a visual observer for each aircraft does not change this, because the limit applies to the remote pilot in command personally. The rule is on the list in 107.205(e), so the FAA can authorize multiple-aircraft operations only through a certificate of waiver.

Section 107.37(a) requires each small unmanned aircraft to yield the right of way to all aircraft, airborne vehicles, and launch and reentry vehicles. Yielding means giving way and not passing over, under, or ahead of the other aircraft unless well clear. The 400-foot figure is the altitude limit in 107.51(b), not a right-of-way rule, so flying lower gives the small UA no priority. Section 107.37 has no exception based on which aircraft is on the right; the small UA yields in every case and must not operate so close as to create a collision hazard.

False. Section 107.51(a) states that the groundspeed of the small unmanned aircraft may not exceed 87 knots (100 miles per hour). The number 87 is the limit in knots; in miles per hour the limit is 100. Reading it as 87 miles per hour mixes up the units and understates the limit. The limit applies to groundspeed, not airspeed, and it is one of the operating limitations that 107.205(i) allows the FAA to waive.

Section 107.51(b) limits a small unmanned aircraft to 400 feet above ground level unless it is flown within a 400-foot radius of a structure and does not fly higher than 400 feet above the structure's immediate uppermost limit. With a 350-foot tower, that ceiling is 350 plus 400, or 750 feet AGL. The 400-foot AGL figure applies only away from structures. 700 feet AGL is double the tower height, which is not how the rule works.

Section 107.51(d) requires the small unmanned aircraft to remain no less than 500 feet below the cloud and no less than 2,000 feet horizontally from the cloud. The vertical distance is the smaller one and the horizontal distance is the larger one. Pairs that require 1,000 or 2,000 feet below a cloud reverse or change those values. The cloud clearances, like the other 107.51 limits, can be changed only by a certificate of waiver under 107.205(i).

False. Section 107.51(c) requires minimum flight visibility of no less than 3 statute miles, as observed from the location of the control station. It defines flight visibility as the average slant distance from the control station at which prominent unlighted objects may be seen and identified by day and prominent lighted objects by night. The reference point is the control station on the ground, not the aircraft's position in the air.

True. Section 107.39 allows flight over a human being in three cases: the person is directly participating in the operation; the person is under a covered structure or inside a stationary vehicle that can provide reasonable protection from a falling small unmanned aircraft; or the operation meets one of the Subpart D categories. The stationary-vehicle case stands on its own. A person inside a moving vehicle is treated differently: 107.145 allows that only under a category and with further conditions.

Section 107.110(a) sets two aircraft requirements for Category 1: the aircraft must weigh 0.55 pounds or less on takeoff and throughout each operation, including everything on board, and it must not contain any exposed rotating parts that would lacerate human skin on impact. Only the 0.5-pound quadcopter with fully enclosed propellers meets both. The 0.7-pound aircraft has protected propellers but is too heavy. The 0.4-pound aircraft is light enough, but its open propellers would cut skin. The 0.8-pound aircraft with open propellers fails both requirements.

True. Section 107.125(b) says a remote pilot conducting Category 3 operations must not operate the small unmanned aircraft over open-air assemblies of human beings, and it gives no Remote ID exception. Categories 1 and 2 are different: 107.110(b) and 107.115(b) prohibit sustained flight over open-air assemblies unless the operation meets 89.110 or 89.115(a), the standard Remote ID and broadcast module options. Meeting Remote ID therefore opens assemblies to Category 1 and Category 2 operations, but not to Category 3.

False. Section 107.36 states that a small unmanned aircraft may not carry hazardous material, as defined in 49 CFR 171.8. A certificate of waiver under 107.200 can authorize deviation only from the regulations specified in 107.205, and 107.36 is not on that list. The list covers moving vehicles, anti-collision lighting, visual line of sight, visual observers, multiple aircraft, yielding the right of way, operation over people, certain airspace, the 107.51 operating limitations, and operations over moving vehicles.

Section 107.205 lists the regulations a certificate of waiver may cover, and both 107.31 (visual line of sight) and 107.51 (operating limitations) are on it. For 107.29, the list names only 107.29(a)(2) and (b), the anti-collision lighting rules, so the requirement in 107.29(a)(1) that the pilot completed the knowledge test or training after April 6, 2021 cannot be waived. Section 107.43, which bars interfering with operations and traffic patterns at airports, and 107.47, which applies the notice-to-airmen flight restrictions of 91.137 through 91.145 and 99.7, are not on the list. Note that 107.41, a different airspace rule, is on it.

Section 89.110(a)(1) requires a standard remote identification unmanned aircraft to broadcast the message elements of 89.305 from takeoff to shutdown. Under 89.110(a)(2), if it is no longer broadcasting them, the person manipulating the flight controls must land as soon as practicable. Hovering in place to wait for the broadcast to return does not meet that duty, because the aircraft stays airborne without broadcasting. Finishing the planned flight is not allowed either; the rule requires landing, not a repair before the next flight. A broadcast module operation carries the same duty under 89.115(a)(4).

True. Section 89.115(a) lets an aircraft that is not a standard remote identification unmanned aircraft comply by carrying a broadcast module whose serial number is on an FAA-accepted declaration of compliance. Among the operating conditions, 89.115(a)(2)(i) requires the module to broadcast from takeoff to shutdown directly from the aircraft, and 89.115(a)(2)(ii) requires the person manipulating the flight controls to be able to see the aircraft at all times throughout the operation. Before takeoff, that person must also make sure the module is functioning, as 89.115(a)(3) requires.

Section 107.3 defines a small unmanned aircraft as one weighing less than 55 pounds on takeoff, including everything that is on board or otherwise attached to the aircraft. The deciding number is therefore the takeoff weight with the payload aboard: the aircraft that takes off at 54 pounds qualifies, even though it is heavier empty than one of the others. An aircraft that is only 49 pounds empty fails, because it takes off at 56 pounds. An aircraft that takes off at 57 pounds also fails, even if it drops to 53 pounds after releasing its payload.

True. Section 107.19(b) makes the remote pilot in command directly responsible for, and the final authority as to, the operation of the small UAS, and the rule does not shift that role to whoever is at the controls. Part 107 expects that the person at the controls may be someone else: under 107.12(a) it may be another certificated remote pilot, or an uncertificated person under the direct supervision of a remote pilot in command who can immediately take direct control. In either case the remote pilot in command, designated before or during the flight, keeps the duty to ensure the operation complies with all applicable regulations.

False. Section 107.23(b) does not ban drops in general; it prohibits allowing an object to be dropped in a manner that creates an undue hazard to persons or property. A drop that creates no undue hazard needs no waiver. A waiver would not help with a hazardous drop either: under 107.200(a) a certificate of waiver can authorize deviation only from the regulations specified in 107.205, and that list does not include 107.23. Section 107.25 (operation from a moving vehicle or aircraft) is the first entry on that list, and 107.23 does not appear anywhere on it.

Except as otherwise authorized by the Administrator or as provided in 89.120, 89.105 requires the operation to meet 89.110 or 89.115, and without such an authorization 89.115(b) is the way to fly with no Remote ID equipment. It sets two conditions: the unmanned aircraft and the person manipulating the flight controls both remain within the boundaries of the FAA-recognized identification area throughout the operation, and that person must be able to see the aircraft at all times. Watching FPV video instead of seeing the aircraft fails the second condition, wherever the person stands. Keeping only the aircraft inside the area fails the first, because the person at the controls must be inside it too, even with the aircraft in sight.